Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson is the 13th and most recent addition to Jordan's epic series, The Wheel of Time. This installment, the second to last in the series, takes the reader through the events that lead right up to Tar'mon Gaidan, the Last Battle.
The 13th book both opens and closes following Lan Mandragoran, the warder king of Malkier, a nation long fallen to Shadowspawn. Determined to march to his death by trying to retake his homeland from Trollocs, Lan approaches Tarwin's Gap, where he will make his stand. He has ridden by himself for many leagues across the Borderlands, refusing to raise the flag of his fallen nation so that he does not have to lead others to their deaths. Throughout the book he rides ever closer but finds he cannot stop his countrymen and other Borderlanders from riding with him to a righteous but doomed battle. The very last sequence in the book is the beginning of Lan's charge at Tarwin's Gap, 12,000 men against 150,000 Shadowspawn.
Another Borderlander who is shown battling the Shadow throughout the novel is Rodel Ituralde, the great Domani general. Ituralde is frantically defending the Saldaen city of Maradon, in the western Borderlands. Unlike Tarwin's Gap in the east, the invasion of the shadow has already begun in the west. When Ituralde's character is introduced, around 250 pages in, a detailed map is given of Maradon and his camps. Though hopelessly outnumbered and fatigued beyond any reasonable standards, Ituralde fights against the seemingly endless assault of Trollocs. Showing the tactical genius which makes him one of the Five Great Captains, he outmaneuvers his opponents at every turn, but is forced to retreat several times as he is overwhelmed by the shadow's inexhaustible numbers.
Ituralde is eventually left fighting with only a small group of survivors inside the burning city, when the new, sane Rand Al'Thor brings the aid he long ago promised. The group is about to call their loss and abandon the mostly destroyed city when Rand decides to take a bold stand against the shadow. Descending to the battlefield outside the city with only a pair of maidens to guard him, he unleashes a massive display of power, devastating the army of Trollocs and saving the city. During this scene Ituralde, Bashere, and Naeff the Asha'man watch the battle from atop the building in which Ituralde had been holding out. Naeff says he has never seen so many at the same time and describes Rand as "A storm of Light and streams of Power!"
This is easily one of my favorite moments in Towers of Midnight because it is one of the few glimpses we get at Rand and it shows him using the full potential of his new found power. Unlike The Gathering Storm, Towers does not grant us a passage directly following Rand until a very slim one in the epilogue. We are shown that Rand has indeed transformed into the spectacular Dragon Reborn, unlocking all memories of Lews Therin's haunting life in the Age of Legends, but we only see this through the interpretations of those with whom he interacts. Min is the most instrumental in our viewings of Rand, as her few scenes give us an intimate look at his emotions. Her scenes occur when the two of them are together, and we learn that he has found peace, that the shadow can no longer hide from him, having failed their play for his soul, and that he has realized that he is not a weapon. Though Min plays her own part from afar -she is tasked to learn about Callandor and as always, reads her viewings of people's futures- the few viewings we are given of Rand through Min are her real contributions to Towers.
Through Min, we see how Rand mourns and tries to make up for all the mistakes he has made. He accepts his bodyguard of Maidens which he had always previously dodged, apologizes to his father, weeping, and even uses his Ta'veren nature to counterbalance some of the more prominent bubbles of evil. One particularly noteworthy scene shows Rand re-establishing command in Bandar Eban, which he had previously left in chaos. He hires city guards and brings in supplies and Aes Sedai to heal the people of disease. Most importantly, he arrives at the city docks where thousands of bags of tainted grain are being guarded to prevent the starving people from killing themselves by eating it. Leaving the already opened bags of entirely bad grain, Rand shows that every bag opened now will be full of perfect, untainted grain. Those around Rand may not realize what this means, but we know that Rand is such a powerful ta'veren that the world literally changes around him. Now that he has regained his sanity he is shown reversing the effects of the Dark One on the Pattern.
While The Gathering Storm is mostly about Rand's struggle to maintain sanity and fulfill his destiny, Towers deals largely with his Ta'veren, Mat and Perrin. Perrin's journey is a long one in which culminates in his understanding of the wolf within him, and an acceptance of the leadership of the Two Rivers people. Perrin's path clashes with both Galad, the Lord Commander of the Whitecloaks, and Graendel, the forsaken who is revealed in the prologue to have escaped the balefire Rand meant for her. In the Wolf Dream, or Tel'aran'rhiod, Hopper teaches Perrin to master himself and the dream the way wolves can. As they are training, they discover that Slayer is back and killing more wolves in the dream. This time slayer has been given a dream spike by Graendal, a powerful Ter'angreal which when placed in the dream world, casts a dome from its center. This dome is invisible in the real world and prevents traveling such as gateways, and is visible as a pink barrier which prevents warping outside its area in Tel'aran'rhiod.
With Hopper's help, Perrin is able to master the Wolf Dream and defeat Slayer, though not kill him, destroying the dream spike in the process. Perrin's battle with Slayer is another of my favorite scenes in Towers, and coincides with Eqwene's critical point in the novel, also in Tel'aran'rhiod, making for an amusing meeting between the two of them in which Perrin scolds her for being in the dangerous Wolf Dream. The actual fight with Slayer is lengthy and forces Perrin to use all his knowledge of the dream world. The fight itself is a duel of imaginations and as such things require, it is written extremely creatively. Unfortunately for Perrin, Hopper is killed in the fight, and Perrin is once again unable to help his wolf mentor, who fades completely from existence.
In the real world, Perrin's camp has crossed paths with Galad's army of Whitecloaks. Galad demands that Perrin meet him in battle so that the Light may judge Perrin as a shadowspawn and a murderer of two Whitecloaks. After much delay, Perrin agrees to be tried for his crimes with Morgase, her charade as Maighdin the serving woman revealed, as judge. Perrin explains that he killed the Whitecloaks because they had killed wolves and is found guilty. Galad and Perrin agree that the armies will both go their separate path to the Last Battle and that Galad could extract his judgement, presumably through the form of execution, if both men survived the battle. Following this judgement, Perrin fights Slayer in the Wolf Dream, detroying the dream spike and allowing his army to move the army by gateway.
When the army arrives in its new location, Perrin is deeply distraught over Hopper's death. He decides to head to the forge to unleash his emotions by shaping metal. The Asha'man, Neald helps by keeping the metal the perfect temperature for Perrin, and before they know it, they are both allowing their emotions to take over, doing to the metal what feels right to them. Perrin constructs a massive war hammer with a leaping wolf on its head, naming it Mah'alleinir, or "He who soars" in the Old Tongue. Neald had been instinctively crafting the weapon also, making it a Power-wrought weapon, a tool of superior quality which is especially effective against Shadowspawn. Following this crafting, Perrin accepts leadership of his people and returns his army to camp near the Whitecloaks.
Most of Perrin's army and all of Galad's believe that they are there to ambush the Whitecloaks, but after thinking about it, Perrin had determined that the dream spike had been intended to keep his army in place to be attacked by the shadow. If he had not agreed to the trial with Galad, his army would have been ambushed by Trollocs following their victory over the Whitecloaks. Instead, he allies with Galad, saving his life and the two armies defeat the Shadowspawn together. Overall, Perrin is undoubtedly the most featured and developed character in Towers, growing from a modest man who is unwilling to accept the duties of a lord to a bold and honorable commander. He also find the balance he has sought for his inner wolf and learns to master the Wolf Dream, bringing him an inner peace which he has sought since discovering the wolves.
While Perrin is the most developed and Rand the most inspirational character in Towers, Mat is by far the most entertaining character. We find Mat dwelling on the letter left to him by Vera, and quickly learn that the Gholam is once again after him. After a quick fight the Gholam retreats, and a bad tempered Mat writes an hilarious letter to Elayne demanding to talk to her. The two eventually meet, resulting in Mat signing the Band of the Red Hand into service for Andor, and Elayne comissioning bell founders to build Mat's Dragons. While the Dragons are being built and tested, Mat fights and beats the Gholam, sending it to a fate worse than death, falling forever through the darkness off of a skimming platform.
All this happens during the time Mat is "waiting around" for a gateway to the Tower of Ghenjei, where he fulfills his revenge on the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn. Entering the tower with Thom and Noal, Mat finds his way down the endless maze of hallways using his power over chance. He rolls his dice to determine which way to go at each intersection, 1-3 left, 4-7, straight, etc. When Noal points out that this isn't really chance since some are more likely combinations and Mat can't roll a 1 with 2 dice anyway, Mat proves him wrong by rolling a 1. The three eventually find Moiraine, and Mat, following the information he received from the Aelfinn, trades "half the light of the world" for her rescue and protection from the foxes for their escape. The foxes greedily accept, taking Mat's left eye and allowing his party to leave. On their way out, however, they are attacked by the snakes, whom Mat had forgotten about in his bargain. As a last ditch effort to help the others escape, Noal sacrifices himself to the Aelfinn, revealing himself to be the fabled Jain Farstrider in the process.
In every other chapter in which Mat appears, we see the same old amusing Two Rivers boy. He is still constantly frustrated by his memories from other lives, Aes Sedai, the Gholam, and of course, thinking about his new wife, but he is always the same light-hearted gambler. These last few chapters in the tower show a very businesslike Mat Cauthon. Rescuing Moiraine is a task that he has been told is impossible, but Mat risks his life and even sacrifices his eye to save her. He has long been my favorite character in the series because of his unintentional humor, but the Mat we see develop from his trials with the snakes and foxes is the character we want to see commanding armies alongside Rodel Ituralde and Gareth Bryne in the Last Battle.
Egwene is also an important character in Towers. She struggles to maintain control of the "unified" White Tower while trying to rally the many nations to stop Rand from breaking the remaining seals. Egwene has certainly changed as a character throughout the series, becoming the Amyrlin with a full Aes Sedai scheming attitude. Her character in Towers is certainly an improvement over previous Egwenes, such as the almost insufferable "refuse to break" Egwene, but she is still one of my least favorite characters in the series. Egwene has become the opposite of the timid, subservient innkeeper's daughter she was when the series started. Now she is the leader of the Aes Sedai, a position which seems to have made her headstrong, stubborn, and often careless person.
Throughout Towers, Egwene refuses to trust the people she knows best, relying instead on the minimal intelligence she receives and her own scheming mind. Everyone else who encounters Rand after his change at the end of The Gathering Storm can see that he is a far better person who knows what he is doing. Egwene is the one person who knows Rand who cannot see this change. Instead of aiding him in preparation for the rapidly approaching Last Battle, she tries to turn the nations which support Rand against him. When we last see her in Towers, it is with the assembled armies that are supposed to be fighting the Shadowspawn, gathered to stop Rand's plan. I can only assume that the final book will develop a more reasonable Egwene who can work with Rand and others to fight the Last Battle. If not we are likely to see a parallel to the Fatal Concord, the original schism in the co-ed White Tower of the Age of Legends.
Egwene shows herself to be more than knowledgeable of the White Tower politics in Towers, but in other areas she continues to blunder about, accidentally achieving her goals. The traps she sets with herself as bait are easily countered by her enemies, and she only manages to survive because of the assistance of others from whom she repeatedly distances herself. Gawyn constantly asks to guard her from a threat she believes she must tackle on her own, and he eventually saves her from one that she didn't see coming. Likewise, in Tel'aran'rhiod, she survives Mesaana's attack only because Perrin fights Slayer in Tar Valon with the dream spike. Perrin also shows her that her weaves mean nothing in the dream world, putting her in the state of mind she needs to defeat the Forsaken. She awakes to find Gawyn, almost dead after defending her against 3 assassins against whom she would of been helpless. Hopefully her newly established Warder bond with Gawyn will be a good influence on her in the coming book. I suspect that Rand will need some kind of alliance with the White Tower to deal with whatever is brewing in the Black Tower, and if not he will certainly need them for the last battle.
Elayne is often shown throughout Towers, though she doesn't play a large role in the novel' s plot. As Queen of Andor, she must scheme her way through the city's endless political maze. As if one city's mess weren't enough, she also plans to take Cairhien. She is somewhat successful in recruiting the Band of the Red Hand and in making copies of Mat's foxhead medallion, though the Band is free to leave whenever and the medallion copies block the wearers' ability to channel. Due to her pregnancy, Elayne has become a raging ball of emotions, openly weeping at small things and generally engaging in all sorts of other unqueenly behavior. Because of her bond to Rand, she can feel that he has changed, but she is still convinced by Egwene to oppose his plan to break the seals. The epilogue reveals to us that a massive army of Shadowspawn has used the Waygates to attack Andor, but the city's fate is unclear. Elayne will certainly want to bring her troops to Andor's rescue, but whether she will have time to transport them or time to commit them with the Last Battle so close remains to be seen. Hopefully she will accept Rand's plan and aid him in the Last Battle, but with her pregnancy affecting her channeling, it is unlikely that she will be one of the two women Rand needs to use Callandor.
Aviendha makes only a few brief appearances in Towers and none of these directly affects the events of the other characters, but her appearances reveal important information about the future of world. Following her trial in Rhuidean to become a full-fledged Wise One, Aviendha receives extra visions from the pillar Ter'angreal. It is unclear whether only she was granted these additional viewings or if she permanently changed the nature of the Ter'angreal so that all who walked through could see them. Rather than showing the Aiel's past as was the previous function of the pillars, they showed Aviendha her descendants, beginning with the last of her line and progressing backwards in time to her children.
These visions show how the Aiel become restless following the Last Battle, and provoke a war with the Seanchan that eventually leads to their rise to power. The Aiel are shown as being particularly discriminated against by the Seanchan, treated like insects that need to be exterminated, but it is mentioned that other nations and even both the Black and White Towers have fallen to the Seanchan. Aviendha's own children are particularly important in the Seanchan rise to power. All four of her children agree to attack the Seanchan because they believe the Aiel have no purpose besides war. They also mention that Rand was unsure of what to do with the Aiel following the Last Battle so he made the other nations agree to a peace that the Aiel were not a part of.
Something in Lews Therin's newly unlocked memories tells Rand that he must use Callandor to seal away the Dark One. The sword is revealed to be flawed, requiring its male user to submit to two channeling women. It is also hinted at that the sword may be further damaged, though this may mean some design flaw or an additional requirement of the three who use it. Though Rand has tasked Min to research Callandor and she is easily the female he can most trust, she cannot be one of the two women to assist in the sealing because she can not channel.
Rand asks Nynaeve to be one of the two women and she accepts. This seems a good choice on Rand's part because Nynaeve is one of the only women who's sole focus seems to be on the Last Battle. Both Egwene and Elayne have positions of command and people to watch over, and even Aviendha now has reason to worry for the future of her people. Aviendha is definitely still a possibility as the second woman, but Moiraine seems a much more plausible alternative now that she is free. Moiraine was the first, and for some time only, Aes Sedai that Rand trusted, and she has given what she thought would be her life to protect him.
When we see Rand through Min's eyes, we see that her viewing of him is now of two men lying dead at Shayol Ghul. Presumably one of these is Rand but the other one remains a mystery. My best guess would be Perrin since other viewings by Min have indicated that Rand needs Perrin to succeed and that when the two of them are separated he will fail. I would guess that Perrin is needed to make the physical shield that will seal away the Dark One, much like the 7 Cuendillar disks which were used by Lews Therin to seal the bore. Much as Neald used a circle of men and women wielding the one power to make Perrin's hammer a Power wrought weapon, the Dark One's prison may require a physical item to be forged with the power.
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